Hump in roof. I inspected this home April 3rd. This hump has appeared that was not there at the time of inspection. My client or the agent does not remember the hump either. It is clearly seen now from the street. The home is 1 hour away and I really am finding it hard to find the time to go check it out. Client wants to know what it is. Can any of you guru’s help me on this and possibly save me a 2 hour round trip? It almost looks as if nails have pulled up?
Thanks for any advice,
Randy
Warped sheathing?
Richard,
That was one of the things I thought about. It almost looks like a small bubble which makes me think it is something other than warped sheathing. But who knows?
Thank you
Can they get a pic inside the attic? - that would help.
Unfortunately, the buyer has not closed on the home and that was the only photo he could get. Can you blow it up to get a closer look? I will add we have had two huge storms since the inspection with high winds and pounding rain if that helps at all.
Thanks
I cant seem to blow the pic up enought to adequately see what I need, so here goes…
High winds, pounding rain…water could have got under the shingles and combined with the wind would/could pull sheathing loose and cause bubbles in the felt paper. Loose sheathing would cause the hump shown, especially wet sheathing that dried too fast.
Randy,
Have you been hitting the Bud Light’s again???
This could be attributed to a broken or slipped purlin support/strut; purlin sags and the support/strut bulges the deck causing the hump. I have this on a rent house I’ve not yet attended to. Someone will have to enter attic to verify whatever this is.
don’t know about yours, but this was a sheathing pop caused by condensaton in the attic insulaton were the vapor retarder had been damaged:
I guess not near like I should be!
Dug up a couple attic shots from the inspection! Not very good ones!
And here is a couple shots of the roof at the time of inspection
The Home and the hump is near the right side
This is the same area at the time of inspection.
I am also starting to wonder if I can be held responsible in any way. Don’t get me wrong because there has been no mention of that but one can never be to careful. What say you?
Your attic shots ruled out my purlin therory
I don’t see H-clips between sheathing and what appears to be a number of missed deck nails would lead one to believe this could be an improperly secured deck expansion/spacing issue
http://www.nachi.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=20798&d=1209601666
It looks newer.
How old is that roof?
My first thought was sheating also, if you want as many opinions as you can get.
I would like to see collar ties, which would help keep the ridge straight, but that is another matter.
Poorly nailed sheathing seems likely, combined with moisture getting in to the decking somehow. It is bad luck for the buyer, and you may need to defend your position, such as, unable to fully inspect attic.
Here is from today’s Inspection.
Three doors, sunny location, so when are you moving in? 
The inspection was at the beginning of the month. I did not report no H-Clips in the report like Barry mentioned they were missing. I rarely see H-Clips installed but do on occasion. Bob ask how old is the roof. I put the age down as 8-10+. As you can tell from previous pics at the time of inspection this hump was not there. The Realtor, the buyer, nor I can remember it being there either. The buyer has not taken possession of the home yet and drove by the home and noticed it. I guess in the back of my mind I have to wonder if somehow I will get blamed for this although no mention of that has been made. All I know is it was not there at the time of inspection. The only thing I have there to defend me is the photos. When things like this come up all I can think about is “Sue the Inspector”
Any thoughts? Can I get blamed? Should I pay for repair? Can it be deemed my fault? I am going to drive down to the house next week to look but it is a defect and I was the inspector. So I may need to prepare.
I think in the interest of good customer service you are going to have to go and look at it again. I would re-inspect that portion and simply report to them (in writing) what you are observing on this date.
That will go a long way toward them NOT blaming you. At this point they are both in agreement that it wasn’t there when you first inspected. So by going the extra mile (or 100 miles in this case) they should love you all the more.
Seems a small investment to try to keep you out of trouble. Personally I don’t see how they could hold you responsible, especially since you have pictures. But as we all know, if you end up in court, you’ve already lost (even if you end up winning.) Try to position yourself as being on their side (you really are). If you ignore it, or start with the “it’s not my fault” line, it will put you in an adversarial position and you don’t want that.